Cashshuffle Developer Says Privacy Project Nears Completion

One of the Cashshuffle development team contributors, Josh Ellithorpe, revealed on Jan. 14 that the BCH-focused privacy shuffling protocol is near completion. The developers are planning to run a security audit on the code and have launched a fundraiser on the Bitbacker.io platform to help secure funding for the audit.

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Cashshuffle Crowdfunds Security Audit on Bitbacker.io

The Cashshuffle protocol is an open source project being developed by the Electron Cash programmers and other well-known BCH developers. Cashshuffle is a client-server mixing application that allows servers to coordinate with users in order to shuffle bitcoin cash (BCH) UTXOs. After the coins are shuffled it is difficult for law enforcement and blockchain surveillance entities to track coin movements. News.Bitcoin.com has reported on the project’s roadmap on multiple occasions, and the project is nearing completion according to Cashshuffle contributor Josh Ellithorpe. A few hours ago, Ellithorpe launched a Bitbacker.io fundraiser to help raise BCH for the security check. So far there’s a slew of people who have donated $5-10 increments of BCH over the last 24 hours.  

“Getting ready for the Cashshuffle security audit from Kudelski Security — Can’t wait to finally release a mature privacy solution for BCH,” reads Ellithorpe’s fundraiser post.

The Cashshuffle concept was first announced back in 2017 and has seen steady development since then. Initially, there was the pre-release version launch and people experimenting with the plugin for the BCH wallet Electron Cash. “Privacy and fungibility go hand in hand and are vital for cryptocurrency — free people living in a free society should have a right to privacy without fearing the state peering into their personal finances,” Electron Cash developer Jonald Fyookball told news.Bitcoin.com at the time. Once the funds are raised, Ellithorpe believes Kudelski’s audit may take anywhere between three weeks to a month to finish.

The free and open source protocol has its own website, Cashshuffle.com, which hosts the current plugin repository, the Cashshuffle server specification, and other documentation.   

Cashshuffle and Protocols Like It Will Increase Privacy

After the audit and a further code polish, the Cashshuffle protocol will likely become a default installation on the Electron Cash wallet, in contrast to the plugin available today, and it may see the light of day on mobile versions of the light client as well. The Cashshuffle team has been upfront about the project’s progress and development since the protocol’s plugin was launched. Last summer Ellithorpe and Fyookball detailed that Coinshuffle testing was going very well and they couldn’t wait to release it to the public.

The Cashshuffle plugin.

At the time developers were working on solving a critical issue with cryptocurrency-centric tumbling and shuffling platforms — liquidity. Cashshuffle engineers designed a proof-of-concept automated liquidity bot that could provide shuffles if insufficient participants are online. The team had also discussed developing some kind of incentivization program similar to the join market protocol. Further, because the shuffle platform is open source, the Cashshuffle protocol can be implemented into other BCH light clients like the Bitcoin.com Wallet. Lots of Bitcoin Cash community members were thrilled to hear about the fungibility concept getting closer to being finished. A few BCH supporters also commented on Ellithorpe’s Bitbacker page.  

“Love fungibility features and building onchain — Thank you guys, keep up the great work,” the anonymous person wrote, while donating $5 in BCH to the security audit fundraiser.

What do you think about the Cashshuffle developers planning a security audit for the platform? Let us know what you think about this project in the comments section below.

Images credits: Shutterstock, Electron Cash, Cashshuffle website.

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